Margaret BauerWashington University celebrated the completion of its three-year Olin Library renovation project in style on May 7 with a fitting grand-scale rededication ceremony. Held beneath a pavilion erected in front of the library entrance, the ceremony featured a number of distinguished speakers, including Chancellor Mark Wrighton and keynote speaker Neil Rudenstine, former president of Harvard University.
The assembled crowd of several hundred faculty, staff, students, and financial contributors was also treated to a tour of the facilities following the ceremony with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and chilled champagne.
Speakers at the ceremony included Executive Vice Chancellor Edward Macias, English Professor Wayne Fields, Board of Trustees Chairman John McDonnell, Chancellor Emeritus William Danforth, and Vice Chancellor for Information and Technology Shirley Baker. Each reflected on the grand scope of the renovation project and Olin’s successful transformation into a state-of-the-art facility.
Olin Library was first opened in 1963 to wide approval, yet, as Chancellor Wrighton explained, was in need of an update before the current renovations began in May 2001.
Macias, who served as master of ceremonies for the rededication, agreed with the Chancellor’s remarks about the necessity of the renovation.
“Learning and scholarship are what we do here at the University, so it is important to have a strong library to serve our distinguished faculty and students,” said Macias.
Outside the library’s entrance, a new statue of George Washington stands as a reminder of the University’s namesake and the principles for which he stood. Macias formally dedicated the statue to former Board of Trustees Chairman William Van Cleve, for the leadership he provided for the University during his long tenure. Van Cleve passed away in February of last year.
In his keynote address, Rudenstine described the Olin renovation as “a symbol to all institutions of higher education of what can and should be done.” Rudenstine also explained that modern research libraries comprise a critical element of a university’s academic environment.
“The lines between teaching, studying, and research have been blurred,” he said. “Now we have a much more dynamic vision of learning that would not be possible without the expansion of research libraries.”
Rudenstine lauded the University for its ambition and commitment to this vision, noting the difficulty of attracting donations for unglamorous projects such as building renovations. In good humor, he noted that not many donors’ hearts race at the chance to have their name on the library’s shiny new storage shelves.
Rudenstine also discussed the nature of the modern library. Many of the improvements to Olin were intended to modernize the facility, but he noted that traditional resources were not neglected in the process. He spoke with passion on the necessity of libraries as storehouses of print materials, stating that “books are our best, and ultimately only, custodians of the entire human record.”
Fields placed the ceremony in perspective by relating the values that George Washington held to the academic goals of the University community.
The University was founded, Fields noted, during a period of great political tension. With Southern states speaking of secession and racial tension threatening to tear the country apart, the University’s founders chose a figure of singular national respect for their namesake. Despite the name’s geographic ambiguity, Washington was chosen for the unity and leadership he embodied, in hopes of “borrowing his ambition to assert his values as a statement of our own.”
Macias said it was fitting that a statue of our University’s namesake should be featured so prominently at the entrance of the literal and figurative heart of the academic campus.
Baker, who led the renovation project, thanked those who had contributed financially to the project and the library staff for their good nature during the sometimes-trying renovations.
Baker explained that Olin Library houses some 1.2 million books, and each was moved to a new location in the updated organizational scheme. Some books were moved two or even three times, and computer records had to be updated following each move so that the library could remain open and functional during the renovation. Library staff were at times forced to navigate construction areas or work under noisy conditions, yet dealt admirably with the difficulties, Baker said.
During the rededication, representatives from the Student Worker Alliance stood beside the pavilion holding signs that called for workers to receive a “living wage now.” After the ceremony, they handed out flyers explaining their cause.
The tour following the formal ceremony allowed the general public into the newly created Whispers Caf‚ area. The caf‚ is one of the major additions to the library, giving students a place to socialize, relax and buy food or coffee.
Other highlights of the renovation project include the addition of 17,000 square feet of user space, many new windows and improved lighting, new furnishings and 50 percent more seating.
The modernized library also boasts twice as many public-access computers as it previously had. Wireless Internet access is now available in most areas of the library, and network jacks provide access at most tables and desks. Even book storage has been improved, with mechanized shelving on levels A and B. Aisles between shelves squeeze closed to save space when not in use, but can be opened by patrons when access is needed.
The new Help Center centralizes previously scattered circulation, reference, interlibrary loan and shelving services. The Arc, another new facility, serves as the library’s new technology center, featuring large plasma screen monitors, two classrooms with ceiling-mounted projectors and movable partitions, and a general computing area where students can either receive instruction or work individually.